Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good morning everybody. It's Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. My name is Don Smiker. I'm going to call the Jackson County Board of Supervisors meeting to order. To my left, I have Mike Steinus. Good morning. Right, we have Nin Flegel. Good morning. Bejorn from IT, Lisa from the Auditor's Office, Brittany online press box. So, first up we have visitors and citizens. Is there anybody here or online that would like to address the board not for something not listed on the agenda? Hearing none, we'll move on to Is Marissa on? She is.

Okay. First up is Marissa Gal from Black Hills Energy to discuss the food pantry donation box location. Marissa, you there? I am. Can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Sitting there too. Floor is yours.

Fantastic. Thank you guys for making the time and letting me join this meeting today. Um I um was brought this way by Alyssa, so I appreciate her help on this project. Um we have been working in the Makoka area to put in a donated little free pantry from Black Hills Energy. We are doing eight of these across the state and we thought it would be a great partnership. Um and from that um we were guided towards the Haycat building which I believe is a county owned building. So coming before you today to um see if we can get that placed in the ground to help better serve um those facing food insecurity in the region. Like I mentioned, this is donated and built by Black Hills Energy. We are also responsible for any of those maintenance issues. So if something falls over, if a door needs replaced, if the post um is leaning, that is something that we can come out and our techs can help take care of. While we also um hope that this becomes a a community impact project that people can take the food that they need or leave the food that they can to help support those in need. Uh the goal is this of this is that it's a 247 um resource for those people who who need assistance. And I'm happy to answer any questions that come up or or clarifying details. Um just out of curiosity, one of our questions was how you came up with the Haycap building location just because uh although it does serve uh some of the needs uh of the people that have certain concerns, it's not exactly in a welltraveled area. I mean kind of out of the the normal flow of people around town. So that was one of our questions.

Yeah, great question. Oh, go ahead. in the area also. So, I know the building next to it with senior center and RTA, they've had problems where like people have been sleeping behind the building and things like that and we didn't know if something like this would kind of cause a rise in that kind of uh problems.

Yeah, those are great questions. I had been working with Sarah over at the Makoka Community Cupboard and um we initially reached out to them for that partnership um to have a 247 on-site uh food resource and they pointed towards Hiccup as it is a part of town that is a bit of a food desert. So while they have the Makoka cupboard on this side of town, the HCAP or people over there might not have a resource nearby and might not be able to potentially get over to that part of town. um in terms in terms of an increase in um potential unhoused people using that, the goal is that they have access to food. So hopefully it's a resource that they could use. Um but o open to um other other options. We just want to make sure that people across the the area um have access to food and we seem to have that covered over um by the Makoka community covered. Mayor said, "Do you have do you normally use a county owned or governmentowned location or do you use private um areas like in a centralized location more like

I mean we have a Goodwill that's like centralized location in the middle of town and it's got a very large parking lot and it seems like a better location or something like that. You know, I'm not saying that one.

That's a great question. Um this is a pilot project. Um, so far in the majority of our other communities, we are working with nonprofits or organizations that are um, helping those who need assistance. So, we've done um, over in Dennis, Iowa, Crossroads of Crawford County, which helps expectant mothers, and they do diaper and formula drives. So, that was a good partnership with them. Um, we are working with thrift stores, community buildings, local libraries. Um, there is nothing that says we can't use privately owned. It's um partly the process in place, right? The powers that be that help us get that done and approve these things, but there's nothing that that would stop us.

I mean, I would tend to agree with you as far as side of town not having access really to food that that would be the side of, you know, the town that it and maybe kind of the demographics of that edge of town. But yeah, I still have a little bit of the concern on if it would cause any increase in Well, with the fairgrounds and that being right there, it's kind of when things aren't there, it's kind of a I want to say a desolate area, but especially at night,

it's kind of a dark, somewhat deserted area, so to speak. So, I don't, you know, we'd have to look at illumination to see if it's lit, all that stuff. So you guys, if we could find maybe a better location, you'd be open to that or you guys kind of stuck on the HCAP? No. Um I have been um relying on local knowledge. So this was brought to me and I know HCAP seemed excited by it and obviously wanted approval from the county as it is a county owned building. But you guys know your community best. So if you have other alternative ideas, I am absolutely open to that and exploring those options. Okay, we'll do a little check and I think we can come up with something. Yeah. We'll look into it more.

Fantastic. Yeah. Um, if you need my contact information, let me know. Like I said, um, Alisa has that. Um, but I can send send a note as well. I think we'll reach out to you hopefully within the next week or two. Fantastic. All right. Any other questions I can answer? Funding. I guess question. You know, you said that you're going to cover the funding in that. Do you guys also have a base amount that you put in for funding for food wise?

Yeah, good question. We um are planning to do ribbon cutings and dedications for all of our uh little free pantries. We've already done a few um and so during that we will do a small ribbon cutting with the partner organization and then bring donated food to stock it for the first time as well as have a couple of food drives from our local offices to help keep it stocked. But this is a similar model to the little free library. So if someone's driving by say, "Hey, I have food I'd like to donate." They can leave it in there. Could be food, hygiene products, um diapers, formula, things like that. Um so we obviously want to continue to support it throughout the year, but hopefully people rally behind it as well. Okay. Thank you.

So did somebody at HCAP volunteer to do that or how would that go if you guys had to put some stuff in it or who monitors that? So hey cap if it's on property obviously they would monitor it and see if hey we're running a little bit low. I will say at our one that we opened in Dennis at the end of March it has been full every day. People have taken it and restocked it and it hasn't come from our team directly but local staff um things like that. So we're excited to see that communities are embracing it and using it. Okay. Any other questions for Marissa? No. Thank you very much. We'll get back to you. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time everybody. Introductions here. What's that?

Do we want introductions here? Um I think if uh we Lisa talk to them a little bit if they speak they'll uh introduce themselves as we get. Next up we have discussion on Jackson Estate Subdivision. Dwayne Van Hemer. You have the floor. You want to come up? But Sure. I also appreciate the ability to sit down while I talk. Morning. I've been known to fall over. Stay there. Well, well, if you're running that little auction, feel free to stop, take a breath, you know, get morning. Well, my name is Wayne Vanheimer. None of you know me, but I've lived in Jackson County for about five years, maybe a little more. Good.

So, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself. Wife and I moved up here during co we lived in De Moine for 50 years. She's from Debuke. She's a bright puck girl and she said, "Honey, I want to go back home when we retire." So that's what we did. So we lived out east of St. Denise on a farm owned by Tim Sever for a while and then bought a hawk home with Dun right center. But I spent the last 50 years as a builder. Uh I've taught school for five years. I've built homes. I've built airplane hangers. I built the Ankeny airport. I've done a lot of different things. dog houses, too. I don't know.

Were you in the dog houses? No, I've been there, too. After 50 years, I mean, after 50 some years, you're going to figure out you've been there, too. But Exactly. Right.

Uh, but the last 25 years, I built schools. I managed school construction for both De Moines schools, N City Schools, managed close to a billion dollars worth of work over those 25 years. Uh I supervised I was the facilities director so I supervised maintenance, construction, design, planning of of site developments, all kinds of things. So that's kind of my thing. Okay. So my notes after I hand those to you, you're going to see a builder player probably because I look at things through a builder's eye, I guess, but and became aware of the Jackson family uh planning and I would I would like to start by saying that this is not about anti-Jack family at all. I got to know Delbert before he passed. He was a nice gentleman. I think what Delbert did for this for the city of Belleview and the playground area there just made our neighborhood better. So I I really want to state that up front. The other thing I want to say is that the other person that's been involved in this a lot is Triflin Dryman who's on a plane this morning from Texas to Iowa. Couldn't be here but wanted to let you know he's here in spirit. Uh, and Dryman's a a a displaced builder from Texas. He married a Bel girl. He met her on a job. I guess he was up here working. The rest is history, as I said. But anyway, so I've gotten to know Trev. The best part of all this is I've gotten to know my neighbors. It's been really cool. It's been, you know, I know, you know, Belleview and Jackson County is a tight-knit community, but it's it's been fun getting to know my neighbors. We did have a neighborhood meeting uh once uh we had the after I guess it was after

the the supervisor's meeting because the reaction to that was frankly not very favorable by the neighbors the neighbors the neighbors in the area and I've heard from all of them a lot of them are here today uh I don't think any are truly opposed to anybody's right to develop their property that's not what this is Uh what this is about is that is the negative or adverse impact that development is going to have on our neighborhoods. Okay. There's some there's some real areas that have been discussed at the commission meeting. They've been discussed at your previous supervisor meeting. I've watched both the minutes. I watched both videos. I attended the commission meeting. Uh so I think a lot of these comments and these are no really prioritized order. They're just comments and thoughts from a lot of people. Okay. And we had a pretty good meeting. Uh a lot of people voiced their concerns I think and there are different concerns. You've got concerns about water which is a huge issue. You got concerns about fences which the commission talked at length about. you know, in Iowa and fence law and all that. I'm familiar with all that. So, this kind of the list I just gave you, it's it's too lengthy to sit here and read and waste your time and mine and theirs, but I thought maybe I could summarize it real quick and just go through it and say, "Hey, and when you get time, I also have a lot of supporting documents that I'll forward to you and some videos and some pictures that support a lot of these comments. Uh, I think as part of the opening, I just talked to you about the neighbors a little bit. There was one comment that was made that I do think was inappropriate at the

commission meeting and I did put that in the notes and I thought I'd share that with you. I was just set back when I heard the commission chair say, "Hey, you guys live by the river. You should be used to more water." And I thought what a totally inappropriate comment. That's all I'm going to say about it. I say it was inappropriate. I think that the gentleman should apologize for the comment because water is a problem. Okay. Uh and it's a lot of it's caused by the outlot that's on the uh far south side of this development. It's included in the plat that you approve and that outlot takes water all the way up to Severing Ridge. It comes from even from the Mickel property that we're going to talk about all the way up through Severing Ridge and down through other properties and down into an outlot that's behind the homes where Rose and I live where Dan lives. And there's a lot of water there and it runs all the time and it's a creek. I and I refer to it as the Severing Ridge creek. And and that's okay. It's there. You know what? I even enjoy that creek out there sometimes. It's kind of pretty. Kids play in it. They have a good time. It's It's not a problem. And we don't have a problem with the kids in our backyard. It's kind of fun having other people's grandkids out there. Okay. Besides ours. But when you add this development on top of it and you take when and I've studied the plans when you take that development and you add all that water even though it's collected and put through a tube it's going to come out of a 24in tube and it's going to go into a little retention area that was a result of a pond that Delbert filled in years ago. I understand because he didn't want his grandkids drowning in the pool. They live right down on Jackson Park Square. I think this is a great grand case to be honest.

They filled that pond in and created a just a small retention area. You've seen pictures of it. It was in your staff report from the commission and it is will be overwhelmed by the water coming out of that retention fund. All that on top of the water we already have. And in the first of April when we had seven ines at my house in three days or four days that that water dam near went over a little dyke that's there. It filled the 12-in tube that ran 24/7 for days on end and it added water. So now we're going to add all the water from this development on top of it. Well, that water's got to go someplace. Okay, I agree. But a lot of the developments I participate in, the developers were required to put that water in tubing and run it to appropriate locations. And I don't think it's inappropriate to ask or for you to demand when you see the final plat that that water be dealt with all the way down to that big culvert that goes underneath the railroad tracks. Okay? because it's going to flood our backyard. Steve Hawkman next to me over the years had to build a burn in his backyard because every time that creek flow it it threatened his basement. I'm not so sure he didn't get water in his basement at one time. So, and I know because I know he'd gone. He's in a nursing home and as is Roxy, but I mow that yard every week and I can tell you that BM was there because I've skinned the top more than once with my mower. Okay? So, it's it's there. It when you get past Steve's house and on down where Randy used to live and and Mike, that becomes a swamp and it's wet all the time. So, that water doesn't go away. It's consistent. And I don't know where they came from, but on two different occasions, I've actually picked up clamshells along that creek. So, they

were either in the pond or it was an ancient river back there or some something was there. There was a lot of water there at one time. We're concerned about that. The outlot as I say a I was not convinced after looking at the plans that that water is being dealt with. The other part of this is what I'm calling out lot X which is the bottom p part of the first page and I'm calling the outlot behind our homes between Rose and myself for lack of a better place to describe it is an outlot that is owned by the Jackson family. Okay. But it's inside the city limits. They stopped short in their development plan, their current their preliminary plans. And the reason I'm pointing this out is because these are things that we need to look at. You need to look at before you approve any final plan because it's all this going to, as I said, adversely affect the neighbors. That outlot out lot X. Uh the water there, it's protected by a small dam or a dyke. There's a 12-in tube, as they said, that that feeds into that. It's been totally neglected over the years. I've heard anecdotal stories about how they want to donate it to the city. The city didn't want it. I think the city needs to re-evaluate that outlaw. I think it would be a beautiful little park. There's some beautiful walnut trees back there. They're in a perfect straight line. And the bird didn't drop it those seeds that way. It was planted that way. It looks great. I I love looking at them and it needs to be protected. So out X is going to take the brunt of all this water coming off the development onto and outlet A which is not where the water is not detained if you look at the plans. You got a drawing from the engineer from

their engineer Eric Todd and it shows a water easement there and it does exist and the easement exists behind my house but it doesn't mean you you can flood it on a consistent basis and it so that water is not being contained or detained properly. It's going to be released onto all X. It's going to do damage to to our water and our properties. And when I comment about the outlet aid and the water that's going on the X, Dick Hines just spent 20,000 plus fixing the bank the the bank behind his house because over the years the erosion did a number on it. And as I understand he got permission from the Jackson family to go across their property and fix that bank. Okay. I don't want to see that happen again. I'm sure Nick doesn't want to see that happen again. But if you don't do something about all the water coming down through there, it may happen again. U I think a lot of X backs up to 16 residential properties. Okay. We feel like we're also residents of Jackson County, but we feel like we haven't been hurt. We feel like if this development is going to be done, it needs to be done right and that somehow that water needs to go through a tube and not over not over our property. Now, there can be a tube. There can be an overflow ditch. There can be all kinds of things that you can do back there. I made mention at the supervisor at the excuse me, the commission meeting about that water and and Eric taught referred to it during the meeting and after the meeting. We've talked about it. He said, "Well, we plan on taking that dyke out and taking that 12-in tube out that's there protecting us now and just dumping the water onto that outlot."

Well, my point is, is that going to help? Maybe. I don't know. I haven't been convinced. But just to release all that water on us and take away the controls that are already there doesn't seem appropriate. It seems like this is the wrong thing to do. U the add one more note about that. So just so I get this right and understand it. Um it this subdivision isn't adding any new water to come down to Jackson. It's just more how it comes down.

It's collected and through storm drains and then drained into a series that was in it two or three retention. six ponds, six, six, five, six or seven. Some of them are smaller than others. Okay? Some of them just ditches and but it all flows into a bigger pond, which I can talk about in a second, but in theory, you might be right, but you are going to add surface. You are going to have rooftops. You are going to add runoff and it's going to be more concentrated. Now, a lot of it runs into the ground. There's a sinkhole in that creek behind my house. A lot of the water goes right down into the ground. I worry about kids stepping in that sinkhole, but it's there. I can show you where it's at.

So, you're right. In theory, it's the same water,

but it's their development has water coming across the Jackson County or Jackson family farm that they own in the county and in the city. and they haven't addressed that water that comes across that outlaw A or outlot X which they own both one's in the county one's in the city the plan doesn't address it needs to okay in short was there I assume I mean there's a couple different engineers and I know it's been changed several times so obviously there's been hydraulic studies done of what what kind of what amount of water comes down there in specific range or whatever it may be so if there's a sink hole in this And that's creek or that you're calling it a creek. I don't know. Is it a creek?

It runs water. I know what they did. I know where it's at. But the point is that's in the city. So that should have been addressed with the subdivision where you live. You're correct. And one of my where you live now that should have been addressed.

One of our recommendations that the city review this again because the city I think it was a pretty informal process where they said, "Yeah, there's a plat there within so many it is adjacent to the city." And they had a legal description I think is it origin or origin design look at a plan years ago back three four years ago that plan showed lots actually showed residential lots on the outlot. The plan that Jackson put together does not. So it's totally different from what that original study was. Uh I think that the water retention calculations are inaccurate and they are lacking. So the the hydraulic studies were done with a city engineer also and also a private engineer. Correct. The these studies were all done twice.

I believe so. And went back to the city several times with changes that I understand and they made significant changes to them. I don't think the city made any changes to it. I think the city did a cursory review and I don't know if their city engineer actually looked at him or gave any kind of an opinion to the city council. I'm not aware of that. I'm going to go back and do my homework. I'm just getting into this, but I'm going to get into it. Well, I just want to address the the fasttrack comment you made at the beginning is the fact that uh with with Becca with the zoning, they've been dealing with this since last September. Yeah.

And they've been having meetings and working things out and doing all this stuff and then once they make a recommendation, it comes to us. when I ain't going to say you can call it fasttracked when the zoning they make a recommendation we have the backing of two reviews of two engineers and all that kind of stuff it seems it's gone through the muster so I think fasttracking is is a misstatement so fasttrack would be the approval process because we got a postcard or a letter

that said hey there's a meeting so we went to the meeting they didn't really listen to us they didn't listen to the neighbors that are here about the water their backyards and their replacements, those people that live on Jackson Park Drive, they totally disregarded it. I just told you what your chairman said and it was inappropriate. And then eight days later, you guys are on top of it. And the day before your meeting, we had our neighborhood meeting. So by fasttrack, I mean the approval process at the county level. I haven't figured out exactly what happened at the city. We did talk to the city clerk. She came to our meeting and she said herself that all she did was, you know, they put a stamp of approval on a plat. Everybody has a right to

Teresa, are you still on? Teresa, so the comment that was made Yeah. And I I agree that comment about it was there was no really true city formal. Yes, Don, I am on and the mayor and a council member. Can you guys kind of talk to a little bit about what the the city's involvement in this was?

And well, we've been working uh with the Jacksons probably s at least a a year or more. And yes, um Origin did originally we were looking at partnering um with the Jacksons. That was the first request. And so yes, uh in uh Origin did put together a design on it and retention ponds, etc. When the city um decided that no, we were not going to do this, the Jacksons decided to go back and talk to the county and do a county subdivision and it would not be annexed into the city. Um once the Jacksons um came forward and Eric Tat from uh WHKS presented the plat, the city actually um employed the services of our city engineer origin design. Um and that would have been probably in November. And so, um, we went they went back and forth, um, with Eric Todd, uh, the engineer, and on how to get the retention and make sure the requirements were correct, um, for what was going to be needed. And um since that time uh that when the city engineer gave us the approval that it meets all the requirements for water retention that's when the city approved the two mile and we did have I mean we've we've being the the city and the residents I mean the residents in those subdivision we understand they pay taxes and we

wanted them protected. Um the city paid about $4,000 in engineering fees and we'll have another one because we had them go back through and address what the new concern is with the um the property the filledin pond that is in the corner. In fact, our city engineer met with the county engineer, Jaden Shekele, on that um concern on that area. And right now the county um attorney is working to put together uh an easement which um I think it's called a watershed easement which will um help to because those detention retention ponds are only as good if you keep them maintained. And so it's looking at a perpetual maintenance agreement for those in an easement for those ponds. So the concerns and the people are being heard. Um things are being done and no, we don't want to flood those residents out. So, yes, the city has done and will continue um to work with the county on making sure that that this is is done properly because neither one of us want a problem

and I appreciate all that and I think part of this is to make you aware Yeah. that the current preliminary plans are totally inadequate in that regard. Well, I would like to, like I say, I don't want we can talk about this for an hour and a half. I want to take this list and talk to Jaden Sheek a little bit more about it. Um, I will say just on a personal experience from where I live in town and another subdivision that in town, it is not unheard of to collect water

and then put it through storm sewer and then run it out through an easement ditch or I have a BM behind my house where when we bought it, they're like, "Well, it's got to be a hard rain to to really get any water in it." And it drains like 300 acres of makoka into that ditch behind it. So you sneeze anywhere from Angus Court to Swagosa the country club, I get water in my ditch. Um the new subdivision going up on Western, it collects it all in the streets storm sewers and it runs it into a retention pond and then from there it goes it flows down into a basin that gets collected back into the city. So this is not uncommon. You just want to make sure it's adequate. I don't have the expertise to know about that stuff. I'm a chiropractor. I'm not an engineer, so I don't pretend to be one, but I'd like to make sure we find out the information. But a lot of these things have been tal, you know,

I know they've been talked about, but I don't think they've been addressed. And there are other concerns that I'd like to point out. Well, besides that water. Okay. And one of the location of the pond itself. That pond is going to be right behind six or seven residential lots on Jackson Park Drive. And that pond will hold more water than the swimming pool in Belleview. That's how much water it could hold when it's full. Yeah.

Okay. And it's going to be adjacent to a lot that's already owned by private resident, private person, and the Jackson family. There's two lots there. And that pond is going to be 150 by 200 some feet in in its biggest dimensions. And the back side of that pond is 20 feet deep or 20 foot bank with with like six foot on the low end, which is good, but are you going to protect it? Are they going to protect it from the neighborhood kids? Are they going to maintain it? The Jacksons don't have a great history of maintaining that outlaw behind my house. It's it's bad. I mean, the weeds, the noxious weeds and everything are bad. Even though it's in the city, not the county. I get all that, but still there are things pointed out by the neighbors on this list that we need to and Jaden Shekele is a fine young engineer. I've gotten to know him and I was a little setback that that the commissioner in the county totally rejected his recommendation of a 12% grade because those grades out there are going to be horrendous. And I've heard conversation from you and others. Well, the fire trucks can go up Mickel farm up the Mickel Hill. They should be able to go up this hill. Well, at the top of the Mickel is a nice flat landing. There's no flat landing at the top of these roads. It goes uphill and downhill and that's it. And so, there's a lot of considerations that haven't been taken into account. A lot of design issues that need to be addressed and you may not have the experience with them, but I am. And I'm thinking that this is a deficient design. I understand it's preliminary. It needs to be improved. We're trying to help improve. And the only setback, one more comment from the neighborhood, little setback that, you know, in most developments, at least where I'm from, the developers have to stop and have a neighborhood meeting, visit with the neighbors before they go down the road of the process and say,

"Hey, we know you may not be happy, but what is it that you're concerned about that we should listen to?" They did none of that. You did none of that. The commission did none of that other than anecdotal information and conversations that you may have had with other people. There was no formal neighborhood meeting to discuss the impact of that project. Those sites are unbuildable. A lot of them a lot of them had 30% grade. I checked them. I did the math. Okay. I don't know how you build a house on a 30% grade, let alone put in a septic system or a sand clover or some other type of system, a dome system. There all kinds of ways you can do it, but there's going to be some real issues with that as well. Uh the fencing is an issue. The commission talked about it at length and about how there should be a homeowners association. The covenants need to address the homeowners association. They do not. The only thing the covenants talk about is having a $5,000 fee that goes towards road maintenance. There's going to be close to a mile of gravel roads out there and $75,000 is not going to take care of those roads. Okay? There needs to be better agreements in place. The covenants need to be tighter. We've made recommendations on those covenants. There there's just a lot of things there. I had I had people say, "Well, what about the adjacent properties? Can we take those roadways and and extend them onto our properties? Well, I know it's going to be a private development. I know it's private roads and that would be between the developer and the land owners, but there needs to be conversations there as well because our neighbors concern and the cattle, the livestock, and how they take care of those fences. It's all an issue. It hasn't been addressed adequately. I think we need to wake up. We need to

slow this freight train down. Say, I know they got a year to get your plans, but they need to stop. They need to talk to the neighbors. They need to have the discussion and listen to us. Do what they can to make it better. Put a fence around that retention pond. It's not in the plan. How you going to keep kids from falling into that pond when it's full? And I guarantee you it's going to fill up because they're not going to let water out of there fast enough and it's going to be a hazard. It's an attract. It's a an attractive nuisance is what I call it. Kids love to play in water. I did. My neighbors do. I hear my neighbors scream at their kids all the time to get out of the water. It It's not that much water. It It just needs be done in the right way. I think the neighbors, if they knew it was done in the right way, in the right manner with neighborhood input, you wouldn't have as many upset people. But I think the further we go down this road, the more angry people are going to get.

You need to listen. I will pass this list on to Jade and we'll talk about it and get his two cents in on it. Um, we'll work with the commission and Becca as we get ready to proceed to final plans and stuff. There'll be more meetings. There'll be communications. And I asked and as much as I appreciate that you guys got a postcard and we you know that you said that's the first you heard of it. I I personally kind of doubt. I hope not because with the papers and gossip and the coffee first heard of it. There had to be ways there had to be ways people hear about it. I but I'm not surprised because when we did flat street people didn't know we were doing it.

I will tell you this. I did read the paper about the city considering participating in that development. That was the first I caught I read the minutes. I read the minutes in the paper and I thought, "Wow, I'm totally opposed to using taxpayer money to get involved in a risky development because a realtor wants you to do it." You know, that's that they had no business doing that. They had no business doing Jackson Park Square if you ask me. if it was urban renewal or some really need that the community had fine but using taxpayer money you can give tax abatements you can do t finance you can do all kinds of things so that's when I first heard about it and then uh the city I heard through the grape vine you know they're not going to do it but there was never any formal publications formal hearings formal actions that I'm aware of that the city took based on the minutes that I've read in the Belleview you. Okay, I'm going to start going to meetings. I may come to a few of your meetings just because I'm I'm concerned. I've been involved in this stuff. I think it could have been done better. They they could have stopped. They could have talked to the neighbors. They didn't do it. I told Steve Emmers that. I told Roger Jackson that. I told Eric Top that after the meeting. They should be embarrassed by the way they handled this development. It was not done in the right way. So having said all that, I don't want to get angry, but you know, there's a lot of emotion pin up out there and there's a lot of neighbors, you know, 20 of us at least that are saying, "Hey, we live in the county, too. We pay taxes, too, and we're not being treated in the right way. This development needs to needs to develop in the right way and take care of the water in the right way. And the water on outlaw A was not addressed in this plan. It may have addressed another plans, but

not this one. You look at the contours, you look at the gray that drops 250 ft from one end to the other. That water's going to come down there in a hell of a hurry. And if and if they ever pave those roads, it's going to be worse. I would love to sit down with Jaden and be part of a meeting and it can be just two or three of us so he can listen to us.

I think he's a pretty reasonable guy. He was my neighbor. I've gotten to know him. I think you made a good choice. I think it's too bad you didn't listen to him or at least consider what he had to tell you just because a private development done in the past had that steeper road. I it's it's it's an issue that's not going to go away. Even though you approved a plumary plat, you got a long way to go to get a final clad approved. And I think you're going to hear from a lot of people. Good. We will pass this on and we'll work on some of these issues with zoning. We'll see what we come up with in the in the future. Would anyone else like to speak? That's what Yes, sir. Go ahead, Dan.

I would just have if you want to state your name. Uh Dan Kilberg, 117 Sunrise Court at Bel.

Um I just have a request to my or board. The lot that's still in the city limits in front of Nick property is currently where there's uh a pond and part of the retention ditch. None of the documents state what the intention is with that piece of land. I would request that their intentions and what their design is be included in the documentation so we can see what their plans are and that that it can be taken care of. All the water will go through that lot. It currently is a semi pond and I don't know what the intentions are with it. So Dan, can you tell me whose lot that is again? It it's the Jackson family lot. No. Word. Neckheim.

Neck. Oh, in front. Yes. It'd be north or it' be just north. Just north of Nick. He just did a lot of work to that down below there. The old central pond was last year. Yeah. Yeah. Nick did on on his on his land. He spent over $20,000 fixing that bank. Well, he did the bank so he could mow it. Well, it was eroding, too. If you saw it, there was a retaining wall that was collapsing back here. Sir and part part of all this development is that lot. I would just like doc or intentions and documentation included if it's possible. Okay, that is the city limits but so we can see what that what happens

and to tag on what that's what I refer to as outline acts in my notes. Okay, anybody else like to address the board? Well, we'll pass this on to to Jay and we'll we'll go from there. Okay. Yeah. Thank you very much information.

Next up, we got uh Andrew Long with the jail administrator for departmental update. Hi, have a good day. Thanks for

morning everyone. All right. Uh, Lisa,

was it in the packet, Lisa, or Yes, it was. No, it was in the packet. Would you like my package? Oh, your thoughts be April 26 update is what it means. Did I get it to you right about Okay, sounds good. And see, that's why I put it in there. I got it. Okay. Yep. I just my tech skills are No, it's all good. Improve it. Improve or not? I don't know if AI is going to help me. I'm just saying last night JPT getting sued now. So,

oh jeez. Uh so, uh currently as of Friday, we're sitting at 37 inmates. Uh that's down slightly right now. Um we had a few Scott County ones that got released. Um but our female pods keeping fairly full. Um which is a good thing. Obviously, if we're going to tie up a pod, we want it to be fairly full. Um we were sitting at 11 inmates of our own. Nine were males, two were females. Uh, and then for Scott County, we had 26 inmates, 20 were males, six were females. Um, part of just again as we look at when numbers are low on our end on females. Um, the idea of do we ship these females out? Um, as of recent, we've kind of been against that idea simply because, um, an example would be right now we have a female that is not always the most pleasant to interact with. No jails want to hold on to her for us. So, kind of just reinforcement as to why we do want to hold females whenever possible. Um, it is sometimes burdensome with staff having to have a female, but we run into the fact, too, if a female is arrested, meaning we have a female. So, uh, we're doing what we can to watch overtime in that regard, you know, as far as trying to cover with females. Uh, we do have a young lady that had her MMPI, the psychological testing here last week. Um, any day now. We're anticipating results on that. So, hopefully we can get her started. that'll help kind of resolve a lot of this female overtime as well. Um, our high day in April, we were sitting at 42 inmates. Um, and an average in April, we were at 39.23. Um, as we go back always on that 40 being kind of the considered full point, 39.23, we were pretty well sitting there. Um, in terms of revenue, this was our high month um, as of yet with revenue at $50,985 from Scott County. So, um, that was our high now. So, happy to see that. Uh,

running total for this fiscal year, $415,695. And the running total for the facility itself is $576,45. Um, no housing out this month. Uh, bookings, we have 42, uh, which is kind of around the average. Uh, five uh, 54,290 documented checks of inmates. our observation logs were up significantly um without having the previous number right in front of me, probably 3,000 more than the last month. Uh and that was due to having some more difficult inmates that were on longerterm suicide watch or were on a different uh reason for documentation. So, um good that our staff is at least generating those notes on inmates um and taking the initiative to do that. Basically 30% or more increases. Uh it's a good thing that they're making those notes. That's because you had inmates were fighting each other and stuff like that that you had to be in and sort that out, separate them and keep closer eye on. So,

3,129 meals were prepared and served uh this last month. Um, again, higher simply just because of the higher u numbers. Uh so one thing that's kind of uh important to know in looking at our statistics and going back through and reviewing um housing costs out through July of 91, we've actually exceeded that in revenue um in the year and a half we've been open. So what we've spent housing out from uh July 91 to present is less than the revenue we've brought in since uh we moved over there. So kind of a good feeling knowing it's uh paying off further than when I was born. So, you know, we're it's exciting and knowing that it's work the process is working and

absolutely and uh you know, it's good to be able to generate the revenue. It's also um you know, good to be able to help out other counties like we relied on for so long. So, um kind of a statistic we're proud of there and happy with. Um last week was National Correctional Officer Week. I think it's on our Facebook pages. All you guys had uh shared that. So, thank you very much for that. We appreciate the uh public show support there. Um uh correctional officers work hard every day and we appreciate them for that as I know you guys do. Well, you guys unfortunately are not really out in the public to be noticed or anything. You're just, you know, the people that notice you are not

they don't necessarily have the talky, so to speak. So, um no, it's appreciate everything you do. My one question I have for you is okay, we're coming up on uh yeah, I would say August would be like the end of warranty and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, how are things going? Are things actually working or things breaking or things flowing pretty good? Anything getting worked out?

Yeah, you know, they are. Yeah, we're seeing less and less issues. Um but can't thank Jeff and Bob enough. When there is an issue, they are very responsive to it. I mean, they are on top of it. Um those guys are over there a lot just making sure everything stays working well for us. So um like said we can't thank those guys enough for all that they do to keep this place running.

Um we see a few issues here and there that are very minor that not so much warranty issues but um as seasons change, temperatures change, you know, the doors start to close a little different, that sort of thing. So um I watched Jeff and Bob do it here the other day. It was a welloiled machine. They're like, "One's holding this, one's holding that, and they're just hand it to each other and have it done in no time." So, um, yeah, like I said, we don't have a whole lot of issues that we're noticing right now. And that's good thing. Good thing. Yeah. No, first we're having some water issues. Some was hot, one was cold, and one was supposed to be hot. One was supposed to be cold. Too much water pressure, not enough water pressure, and but some valves and Yeah. I don't know if it's if it's minor stuff. and the and the squeaky floor

squeaking a little bit again, but not not as bad as it was. But we're noticing a little more. Um, especially as you walk over to the special status cell on the uh west side, we're getting some squeaking there. But maybe let's reach out again and see if something can be done. Um, the epoxy in the showers and the two Gen Pop A and D pods um is starting to come off again and I know Jeff has been working on that, too. So, trying to get that corrected. Um, so we're seeing where that's kind of starting to come off a little bit, but they are taking care of that. So,

some of the moldings on the corners around uh doors, hallways, and stuff are coming loose because they should have been cut and glued on. They just got wrapped and now they're peeling off because it's too sharp of a corner. I noticed that in the booking area from where it was original, right? Question that.

Yeah, that's frustrating, but you know, and Jeff knows that. I mean, he pointed it out right away, but apparently we're gonna probably fix it. So, I don't know. I'd have to ask Jeff if he's got a plan to bark up that tree or not. Um, couple weeks ago, we told, and I realize you're probably running behind, but a couple weeks ago, we told Andrew absolutely no more overtime in the jail if we can all help it. That weekend, that was like a Friday. That weekend, we had 38 hours of overtime because we couldn't help it. Um, we have incorporated Kim and Karen into the jail more uh since then because we needed females. Our female jailers were nice enough to change their shifts and work the night shifts so that we could utilize Kim and Karen during the day. So, we've been doing what Andrew is not telling you is we've been doing a lot of swapping around to try to make it work. That does cause us a little bit overtime in the administrative side, but we're fine with that. Not that we're fine with it, but I mean it's it's better there than in the jail. So, uh, incorporating that into it. So,

a couple Scott County inmates were fighting and, uh, what, one or two of them got sent back because they just weren't they weren't conforming and working out well in the pod. So, you get to go home. So, um, but yeah, kept it pretty full. What? Largest income month so far? Yep. Yep. Largest so far. 50,000 or something. That's good. We appreciate it. It's It's going good. Um, as far as the overtime and stuff, we Are you fully staffed now? Full-time, right? Full-time. We are part-time. I know you're probably you're you're advertising. You can only take what you can get as far as applicants, but Right. And I don't know how many females are.

Yeah, we have um like we have the one in the hiring process right now. Yeah. In terms of what we are allotted for staffing, we are full for full-time employees. Um, PRN, we have three openings currently. Like I said, the one gal, um, is hopefully getting towards the end of the process for hiring. Um, part of our biggest problem with that hiring is, um, in terms of speediness, is that MMPI, that psychological evaluation. There's not a ton of people that do it. And so, a lot of times we face an issue of, you know, it could be weeks out. The longest I think I've seen was eight weeks before they could get an appointment. Um, it's crazy. And I've had ones I've gotten in next day. you know, it's just it's totally dependent at their mercy though.

Yeah, absolutely. So, that's our biggest struggle. And then and with PRN hiring, too, of course, if they have other jobs, you know, maybe a little more limited on when they can take that appointment. So, uh we're doing what we can to get some females hired to hopefully kind of uh alleviate both the overtime issue as well as the uh relief for our full-time female staff. Um we really can't thank them enough for as much as they're willing to kind of bounce around and work with each other to make it happen. So yeah, we need females very badly. We even thought about, all right, do we just ship our females out to Scott County and let them because they've got females. They can just let two more in with their pod or whatever and we'll take 10 or 12 males because they are always overflowing with males. So we thought about doing that, but anytime a female comes in, then we got to have a female anyway. And then they got to go to be seen in court the next day, which we never know what time that's going to be. So, do we run them down to Scott County and then run after them the next day and bring them back again at the end of the day? It's like with the gas and the miles and the people on the road, are they gaining or is that just a waste of time?

Right. So, that's the balance we're trying to figure out.

And just on the note of um we don't always know when court's going to be. Um to explain to you guys a little bit on that, we only have one magistrate for Jackson County and she's on call 24/7 365. Um she's a practicing attorney. Magistrates aren't paid a huge amount by any means. It's more of a um a service to the community. It's a step to becoming a district court judge. There's a variety of reasons insurance why people do do the magistrate thing, but um that's a lot of responsibility. Um so she is also a practicing attorney, so she has things she's got to do in other counties. Um she handled all driving wall bars for Scott County as public defender. There's a lot of hard drivers in Scott County as well as quite a case load in Clinton County. So, she has to fit us in where she can. Um, at that same note, she is very helpful for us. You know, if we need to get a hold of her, if we need to get something done, um, she's phenomenal to work with. So, the idea of not always knowing when court's going to be, that's kind of the reason behind that. It's not irresponsiveness, you know, on her end. Um,

it's all she's got a lot. got a lot of balls in the air and the state's trying to regionalize magistrates just like they did with mental health and stuff. So, they're trying to reduce the number of magistrates and we're like, are you kidding me? Because ours is jumping through hoops just to make it work for us here. So, I don't know how that's going to work out, but probably not good. But anyway, it's there's too much regionalization going on and then the smaller counties just get pushed in the back corner and then we get what's left over. So, we'll get to you when we get to you kind of thing.

So, um thing I want to say is uh at the recent Republican meeting. I want to apologize to I was expressing some of my frustrations over my budget, how much lower it was in some comparable counties and that I have to ask for an amendment coming up. um because we haven't been reimbursed for the revenue that we've been creating. We haven't been reimbursed for the operating costs so costs. So man, my words so I may not make it to the spring dinner. So I wanted to publicly apologize to them for that. So and by association you guys. Okay. Okay.

Um the only other one note I have then is as we talked about last week being National Correctional Officer Week, uh this week's National Police Week. Um so honoring our deputies there. Um, sheriff can say a lot more than I can, but we actually, many people don't know, we had a deputy that died in the line of duty way back what 1800s. Yeah. 1867, Samuel S. Kronck was killed as a deputy here in Jackson County. Huh?

Most people don't. It wasn't even passed down in the sheriff's uh office. So, I mean, this was news to me probably when discovered it a year or so ago, maybe a couple years ago. But anyway, so I put his information, the little bit I could find. and I put his information into the National Police Officer Memorial. So, he is being honored and being put on the wall this tomorrow at the Candlelight Vigil uh out there in DC. And they asked me to come to it because I don't know of any family members. He was an orphan when he was a kid. Uh grew up with the Whitley family if I remember correctly. And then he joined the army, fought in the for the Union in the Civil War, came back and became a deputy, and then got killed somewhere between kind of in the Cottonville area. Kelly Gerlock just did an article on uh last week, I think, in the paper. So anyway, I wanted to go to that. I just decided I just can't make it work. I'm too busy with too many other things and, you know, I necessarily didn't want to go alone. But anyway, so I just bypass it. So I feel kind of bad that I'm not going to be there and that he probably doesn't even have a family member there gonna honor him. But um I'll be out in DC later. So I'll try to shade his name on a sheet of paper and hang it in our office or something.

But a lot of people don't know that that we actually had a deputy from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office get killed years ago in the line of duty. And Brenda is is from Bellev is the only other one I know and I've been out there and visited his name on the wall too. So, but anyway, so yeah, uh national law enforcement officer this week. So, you guys would run into one of our uh law enforcement officers, maybe just tell them how much you appreciate him and stuff this week and they Oh, you should. Yeah, exactly. Right. the it's it's a hard job much like teaching any kind

becoming a more of a unappreciated or thank thankless job and uh to go out and put your lives on the line every day the way they do is it's a pleasure to have them. Yeah, there's a there kind of an unwarranted, I would say, bad attitude towards law enforcement out in society and uh I hope we're doing what we can to fix that because, you know, we don't deserve that. And fortunately, we have good officers locally um and we stay out of the national news, but one wrong incident could change that in a heartbeat. So,

um our law enforcement officers are not bad people. They're just people trying to make a living and raise their family, same as everybody else. they bounce around on their shifts to make their job work and bend over backwards to support us in the sheriff's office. So, we want to say how much we appreciate them.

And on the jail side, too, our our deputies are very, very helpful, too. If we need, you know, additional help. If it's case it's night shift, we have our three people on, only two people to respond and there's a major incident, they're always happy to come in and help. Um, we had a huge booking group from Scott County here, I think last early last month, like 15 16 people. And we were also due to be meeting with uh Carol County with a gal with a warrant that had some medical issues. We didn't have anything on her. It was in our best interest to get her moved on. Um so Deputy Schmidt came and she helped uh transport her down to mean Carol County. So um our deputies are very good about helping out in the jail when needed and um our correctional officers are also very happy and uh appreciative for what they do for us also.

Well, you know, we appreciate everything everybody in that department does. So, thank you very much. Thank you. I don't know. You do anything for police officer week or a cake or something. We have I guess uh sometimes we'll get a little food together in the back office or something like that, you know, for the biggest thing out to people to people out there that watch this. Just remember to thank thank a law enforcement officer, whether it's city police, county police, you know, state trooper. They're out there. A lot of times weather may or may not cooperate. may not, you know, they're missing family, missing friends, missing events to do this. So, uh, just give them a little a thank you on the way. It means a lot, you know. So, yeah.

And I agree with Brent. You do get a bad, you know, they do get a bad rap. I've worked beside them for 32 years being in EMS. They've been on several calls. They're very, our deputies are very good at they try to get that unique bond going with some of these people. They try to work, you know, they're not out just to see how many people they can throw in jail in a month. We don't want people in jail. Yeah. You know, so they do work with people and, you know, they do a great job as far as trying to deescalate and Yeah. things like that. So,

kind of become street or road counselors, I guess, if you will, to try to try to lead people to how to do this better and how to avoid problems and stay out of jail, you know. Um thankfully we have a co-responder uh in our area. She's overburdened uh because she is everywhere.

Yeah. Everywhere. And you just she's got a lot on her plate too. And occasionally we got to her too and make sure she's doing all right because she's trying to help everybody with their problems. But but yeah, we have good people working for us here. Um everybody you get into this job because you want to help people. It may not seem like it when like the other day I got passed by a young female was doing well over the speed limit out here on the fourlane. So I pulled her over and she was on her way to nursing school in Animosa. And I said, "You're getting into nursing because you want to help people, right?" Yeah. I said, "Or is it just for the pay?" So no, she said she wanted to help people. I said, "Well, by you driving like an idiot out here and weaving in between cars and going well over the speed limit, you very well could hurt someone. So, isn't that counterintuitive to what you're trying to do? You know, you're trying to help people, but you're going to cause an accident and hurt people." So,

hopefully she wasn't on her phone. She got on her phone when I stopped her because she had to let her instructor know if she was going to be late. But, I said, "You'd have been on closer to being on time if I didn't stop you and we have to go through all this and I'm going to write you a ticket." And so drive reasonable at least, you know, and you know, think of others when you're out there driving like a ding-dong. Oh, speaking of that, it's farm time in the fields. The red and orange triangle means 35 mph and under. That's why side by sides technically have to have them on also because when you see that sign or symbol that that piece you start breaking before you're on their tail

that mean that's supposed to be going 35 miles an hour or slower. So that means yeah start slowing down and yielding. Um, so you'll see side by sides out, maybe a little more this time of year because the farmers using them too, but farm equipment, big equipment that take up a lot of the roadway. Mhm. Maybe you're not always sure which way they're going to go or turn. They're trying to watch out for you, but sometimes they got a lot going on, too. So, aggressively. On that note, I don't know. I haven't listened to the egg report, but I think they're way ahead of schedule planning. I mean, they're they're not they've been sleeping. There's a lot of plants in the ground. So, yeah, I see stuff starting to grow already. So, yeah. Well, thank you very much. Anything else?

Uh, nope. Just on that note, it's very dusty, too, with the lack of rain we've had lately. So, gravel roads or whatever, just slow down because I've had some people I've known got hit head on in a clust uh dust dust cloud because they couldn't see what was coming at them and almost got killed. So, just expect to meet something. So, slow down and stay to your side and be very careful. Exactly. Thank you very much. Last on the agenda is Lisa from the auditor's office. Good morning. I need a motion to approve the May 5th, 2026 meeting minutes as written by Auditor Smith and authorized publication the official newspapers. I'll make that motion. Have a second.

Got a motion by N, second by Mike to approve the May 5th, 2026 meeting is written by Audi Smith and authorized publication official newspapers. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. I. post. Motion carries.

I need a motion to approve and authorize the chair and auditor signatures on the contract with cost advisory services LLC to provide professional consulting services to recoup federal monies for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027. This is something we do every year. They have a formula. We've worked really well with Jeff and and the rest of his crew. And um I think they're willing to start here shortly. So that's basically retrieving the money that's available to us and they like you said correct I read the report and it's it's yep detailed. Yeah, we've used them for a long time. They do quite a few counties uh in the state of Iowa. So it does pay out for us. That's what I'm getting. Yes, I would make that motion.

I would second that. Got a motion by Mike, second by N to approve and authorize chair and auditor signatures on a contract with cost advisory services, Inc. to provide professional consulting services to recoup federal monies for the fiscal year ending in June 30th, 2027. Any other discussion? One question. Is it required that we have a contract with somebody? I think that's probably they're just kind of guaranteeing their work. I think that's they I don't think it's required, but I think that's what they want. Yeah, there is another company that can that contacted me that wanted our work and I went we're happy. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I.

I post. Motion carries. That's all that I have to today. Boards of commissions. As far as I know, the transfer station's open. Transfer station. I I'll talk about that tomorrow on the radio if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. No, I I guess he could confirm with Frank, but he told me it'd be open Monday. Uh he posted it on our we have a meeting next Monday, but he said he posted it and everything's again. He reassured we were open Monday. It looked like there was activity there this morning and then the trailer wasn't backed up to the other building, so I assume they're open. Goodness. Excellent. RTA meeting, I think, went pretty reasonable. We had uh yeah, I mean good discussion about the rest of the budget, next year's budget and yeah, so

running fairly smooth. Again, people can reach out to them for rides. It's not just for handicapped or disabled or elderly. I mean, you you got to use that service. It's available. It's out there. You know, I get, you know, it almost seems like you should look at it. It's like a our version of a bus, a Uber, an Uber type, an Uber kind of thing where you can just call them, get a ride. It's low cost. Um, just, you know, it kind of got stereotyped there for a while and they're trying to shake that because literally anybody can use it. So, yeah, with gas prices pushing 450,

if you're planning, you know, there's different times, different areas where you can catch the ride to Walmart or or whatever. So, you know, reach out to them, give them a call, talk to them. Yeah. And they make longer trips, too. I mean, if you got doctor's appointments in Iowa City or Debuke or Some of them are scheduled times they go there. Some of them they'll take just you there, you know. So, if you're needing rides or services, definitely reach out because as we all know, you know, locally here, we don't have the city buses or the taxi cabs. So these could be, you know,

yeah, some ways of getting there, they are. You should use them. Good. Anything else? Uh the tour, annual tourism meeting wasn't on, but it's Thursday. We have annual if there was annual meetings.

Um ECI, our executive committee, we've been meeting with uh some local or local, I'm going to say surrounding communities. We had the job posting out there. They did not get any applicants. So, they're possibly looking at partnering with maybe one of the other local whether it be like Cedar Jones or the Debuke and kind of combining services since one a lot of them use the exact same um companies or vendors to help service the and you know this is for early childhood so five and under those needing assistance with preschool heads to start new babies, things like that. So, we're in the process of talking with trying to find a good fit for for us to do a partnership for a director. We would still keep our own own budget own board, but kind of a shared director type of thing, which is kind of different things we're talking about in the county for can areas be shared. This might be one that we're looking at.

Cool. Yeah. they always going to be issued for hiring anymore. I mean unemployment rates at three and a half or something like that and left the fill in position sometimes. Yep. Exactly. And especially if it's not a definite full-time position, you know. Sure. So there's no further business. I'll make a motion we adjourn. I would second that. Got a motion by Mike second to adjurnn. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. All right, post.